We recently connected with Jennifer Irene Masley and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
When I was a 18/19 years old, creativity was easy to keep alive because of the fresh exposure to the freedoms that come along with early adulthood. There’s a sense of curiosity that came full force and made exploring visual language easy.
Now that I’ve been making art for over 10 years I no longer feel as fresh and full of questions. I have experience that allow me to create competently and with skill. Keeping the studio feeling fresh and alive though, is similar to nourishing a long-term relationship. There’s a point where it isn’t fueled by newness and angst but requires intentional and thoughtful commitment.
Silence is a great tool for letting things float from the back of my mind to the front. It’s so easy to let music and social media clutter up the free space in our minds that allows for realizations and cultivates curiosity. Similar to meditation, i think having clarity and mindfulness in a creative space is so important.
Play is also incredibly important. it’s a way to introduce new ideas through ‘mistakes’ or experimentation. creating games are great. An example of a game i took from a friend is to draw 40 drawings in 40 minutes, one minute per drawing. it pulls things out of the subconscious and almost always produces surprises.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am an interdisciplinary artist with a studio based in Akron, Ohio. My studio practice is focused on ceramics as the primary mode of creating sculpture and installation. My mission as an artist is to advocate for play and mindfulness as a daily practice in and out of creative projects.
I am at the end of a 5-week studio residency at the Anderon Ranch Art Center in Snowmass, Colorado. I will be attending Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in June 2024. These residencies are opportunities for me to take a break from the grind of my studio practice and nurture room for change and learn new techniques in ceramics that incorporate technology.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1) Explore as much as possible! Don’t pigeon yourself at the beginning!! – In school, I felt the urge to jump to new ideas constantly. My investigations were driven by the mysteries of ceramics and the seemingly infinite magical qualities it offered. I just wanted to try everything materially and conceptually I was on autopilot. This was discouraged by my mentors, I think partially as a natural part of academia. I can now appreciate the value of focusing on something specific as a way to keep track of your growth as an artist. When you possess a lot of skills you end up with too many toys in the playpen, and there’s value in being intentional and selective with what you create. My compromise with this system of making is I would commit to an idea for the grade and continue to explore 10 things on the side (which often became the things I was more invested in and intrigued by).
Without supporting my instinct to play and explore I wouldn’t have the wide breadth of information I have now, and I wouldn’t be able to make work as diverse as my interests as a human. This period of 6-8 years of exploration has given me the tools to pivot freely when I feel my work needs something fresh. I think it’s not the intuitive path to take in our current society that pressures people who enter academia to pick a lane and stick to it, but I think this is a mindset that supports grind culture and I’m skeptical at how effective this is towards pursuing a happy and healthy creative journey for the long-haul.
2)Time is limited and valuable – make room for risk-taking
– My father died suddenly in 2020 weeks before the COVID lockdown (unrelated to COVID), this life event put a lot of things in perspective for me and has been a catalyst for radical change in my life. One piece of this is realizing how precious time is, not only with loved ones but also with what I can do with my life. My dad raised me with ideas of being cautious and playing things the safe way, but he also was waiting to retire from his long-term job to focus on what he wanted to do with his life. I think about this constantly and think about the person I want to be, the art I want to make, and what kind of life I want to build. I feel a sense of urgency to learn the life skills necessary to reach the things I want for myself but also take the time to care for my overall well-being. How do you do that? It’s easier said than done. And I often have to remember that rest and self-care are ok and part of the journey of self-actualization.
3) Leave room in your life for more things outside of your main passion/work
– Related to number 2, realizing how short life feels like a great reason to diversify my life. As much as I love art and the journey of self-actualization. I’m realizing for myself why it is valuable to have hobbies and nurture other aspects of my life like my relationships, developing a healthy spiritual life, find other things I enjoy and feel passionate about like nature and being a human. These quality-of-life things filter back into the studio and result in work I’m more satisfied with and give me better-coping mechanisms for challenges that inevitably show up.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
When I only invest in my strengths, the underdeveloped areas often come back as limitations. I can recognize some of my strengths in terms of work ethic and certain administrative tasks, and areas I think could be improved are related to my introversion and putting myself out there. In this age of social media and self-promotion, there’s only so far my work can reach without needing to be skilled in finding and communicating with your ideal audience. Even being able to communicate with professionals who can work with you along your journey. Working on areas I’m not as strong in are more likely to be uncomfortable to address, and understandable to avoid. But being able to confront discomfort is part of growth in my opinion. Creative growth is a lot like muscles, you need to make small tears over time to help it grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jenniferirenemasley.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifermasleyclay/
